ok, can oyu post when lvl 8 comes out to that I can try it out. you mentioned a while back about having skills, how is that coming along. also jsut out of curiosity do you know your level maker in person?

yes i agree jet packs would rule.

I am glad this project is back up and active. was worried it would be drowned out.keep up the great work.

Yeah I'll definitely post on here when its up. Nope I don't know my Level Designer in person, but we've become good friends now. We got quite a few continents working on the game. I don't know any of them in person.

Level Designer - Is in KentuckyPixel Artist - Is in Japan (But hes a US marine)Graphic Artist - She is somewhere in US, I think it was OhioWriter - He is in AustraliaI'm In Houston

I was just playing around with phys2d - had an idea for a similar game which I may not need to make now that you already have it :-) In phys2d there is the concept of "joints" that keeps two bodies in a certain distance from one another. That is the ninja rope right there!

Oh, didn't I read about you guys turning it into an MMO on your site? My 5 cents: That sounds wildly ambitious. Networking alone would be ambitious. But: I really like your concept that the players state is stored (in a room) in the game - that is not too technically challenging to make and adds RPG aspects to the game.

Using phys2d wouldn't be too hard making a rope, but the problem with that is the frame rate. Basically everything we currently have in the game wouldn't be possible. There would be too many entities on the screen for the engine to handle well enough for an action packed game.

Well our MMO goal has changed recently, I sat down with my Level Designer, who also helps me out with the overall game design. I told him that MMO wont be easy due to the physics engine, basically its more like a Counter Strike engine. So MMO isn't likely, which I knew from the beginning. But I recently came up with a new method instead, basically it would be something like Left 4 Dead or a party system. You gather a couple people in your room, then the room owner chooses either an Episode, Mission, or Multiplayer game type and they play it together.

So with this method, the story mode will be essential, since your character is the same one in multiplayer and story mode. So you will be "forced" to play the story version to get better upgrades, equipment, items, weapons, and reach higher levels. Then you would use that stuff in multiplayer.

Later on you will be able to start a team/guild/clan, the leader can purchase a headquarters for the team. In this HQ and your room, you will be able to decorate it however you want with purchases of furniture and other stuff. There will be tournaments your team can play in, and will receive trophies that you can place in the headquarters. When ever you are about to play another team, one team has to go to the other team's HQ. Leaders will be able to place the spawn point entrance where ever they please, so they can place it right in front of the trophy case to show off their winnings.

The only problem, is who is the server. The leader, our own servers, or something else. Purchasing the HQ means allocating a space on our own servers? We'll see once we find out how many players can play on one server comfortably. But four player coop would be fun, and in my mind is completely doable.

will you be able to do this without using your "gold member" idea? cause if so, GL! I cant wait, btw is lvl 8 there?

Idk, I spend way too much time working on this to not eventually make money off of it. But the idea is to make the game free for everyone, but for free users there is a level cap. As for multiplayer, free users would only be able to play two maps. This isn't set in stone, so most likely it will change down the line.

Oh yeah, my Level Designer's computer died... so episode 8 will either have to wait, or I was gonna make one. But he said he already started, so idk if I should start working on an episode.

You are right sir, after doing some research I have decided not to lock up most of the game. More people the better, after all this is why I chose applet distribution. Although I cannot say for sure that other unforeseeable cool features can not be locked behind a Gold Member account, it is still early.

Oh! I'm almost certain that I found the bug that caused the deletion of stuff in room, and resetting of kill count. It was the dumbest thing ever, lol i just changed >= to >. So now it is certain that no resets will occur, although this is a wait and see situation since there is no way to really reproduce it. So if anyone's account resets, be sure to let me know.

Money: I like the idea that people can buy new weapons for real money! So you could let them play all they want with the pistol and when they get stuck using that they can buy another gun, and another aso :-)

Networking: Be warned, if you think it is hard work now, networking is going to be a real bitch to dance with... Also most people playing casual games like this one does it when they have 10 minutes at the computer; they dont gather their friends for a big network game. My theory at least...

Engine: You didnt think of taking box2d or phys2d and rewrite / optimize for the specific needs you have? Just curious as I am right now playing around with the 2 and thinking about making a game with many of the same aspects as yours.

Networking: Be warned, if you think it is hard work now, networking is going to be a real bitch to dance with... Also most people playing casual games like this one does it when they have 10 minutes at the computer; they dont gather their friends for a big network game. My theory at least...

I see your point, but I originally also had in mind: go in your room, choose a game type, click something that broadcasts you are searching for players. Then players start joining your room, once everyone is in, then you can start it up. This will probably be the hardest part to get just right.

Engine: You didnt think of taking box2d or phys2d and rewrite / optimize for the specific needs you have? Just curious as I am right now playing around with the 2 and thinking about making a game with many of the same aspects as yours.

I tried this for a while with Project X version. I either didn't delve deep enough with the engine, or I realized that the engine is too slow for a browser game. I'd suggest starting with their engine first, but it was just easier for me to deal with all of my own quirks then figure out all of theirs.

K added you to the credits. I don't see any issues with the room now. There are three ways to exit the room, into the city, pressing escape, and going into an episode. All three ways the room's items get saved before leaving.

JBox2D is supposed to run maybe 10 times faster than Phys2D - that may be worth looking into. They have some damn impressive demos on their webpage. I am thinking with a real physic engine you get some pretty cool things for free - like ninja rope, ability to push around boxes etc. Have you seen this?

Yes I have seen that demo, its actually what I based my Phys2D code around. But there are many more issues to deal with as opposed to creating your own. I'll probably try again once I make the next rendition of VE.

Btw, the Level Designer is working on maps at school now since he doesn't have a computer anymore, so maybe he'll send some to me tomorrow. The sword is coming along nicely, all I have to do now is rework the collide points, and it should be ready. I'm gonna work on that now.

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